


Glory Days

by AnnetheCatDetective



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 12:34:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13190190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnetheCatDetective/pseuds/AnnetheCatDetective
Summary: Things are changing, in the war against the kaiju, and after Onibaba, Stacker's role in the PPDC is poised to change, as is his role in life... but it's Herc's opinion that the best is yet to come.A soft, relaxed moment, and the chance for old friends to become something new.





	Glory Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MayQueen517](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MayQueen517/gifts).



    “If you’re not careful, they’ll try to put you in charge of one of these ‘domes, instead of your Jaeger.” Herc jokes, slinging an arm around Stacker’s shoulders. By the time he and Scott had reached Tokyo, Onibaba had been put down, but now they might as well spend a couple days there. He doesn’t have to justify it to Scott, at least-- they each have their own people to catch up with as long as they’re in another Shatterdome, and Chuck’s in good hands in the Sydney dome, where he hadn’t been at all broken up about some time without his old man.

 

    They do want Stacker behind a desk and Stacker knows it, but he laughs anyway, pulls Herc into a real hug.

 

    “Ah, they might have their way. Tamsin’s pulled from active duty… and I’ve been told I ought to follow suit. Unless I get myself another partner…”

 

    “Tamsin’s got her health to think about.” Herc nods, then freezes. “You’re all right, though-- you’d tell me if you weren’t?”

 

    “I’d tell you. Herc… And I’ll tell you something else, I think I’ll take it. The desk job. It doesn’t make me happy, but…” He blows out a hard sigh. “I could pilot with anyone. I don’t want to. If anything ever happened with Scott, if you ever needed me to hop in a Jaeger, you know I would. I’d be in Sydney and I’d be suited up faster than you can say Jack Robinson. I would do that for you, but I don’t want another partner. Even without the same… the same connection most Drifts bring, I don’t want to take another partner. Tamsin and I had something-- we had Luna. She connected us. It wouldn’t feel right, jockeying a Jaeger with just anyone. Besides… maybe stability isn’t such a bad thing right now.”

 

    Herc nods slowly. The two of them fall into step together, winding through corridors towards the residential sector.

 

    “So… about Tamsin’s health-- do we know yet? Not that it’s my business what, but I mean, does she know?” He asks. Most of the buzz has been about Stacker piloting solo for so long. Everyone who knows how the Jaegers work without having any personal experience is focused on that-- Herc’s been in a Jaeger, Herc’s got a Drift partner. Herc can’t stop thinking about the fact that you don’t pilot solo unless something’s gone wrong. It’s got to be hard to be proud of the success, when he knows Stacker must be more worried about his partner than he is about personal glory.

 

    “We’ll get test results soon. All they know right now is, they don’t want her going back up in a Jaeger. Maybe someday, if they rule enough things out, but… they won’t. They’ve got young rangers coming out of the academy, they’ve got new Jaegers with better safety measures…”

 

    “Don’t go calling yourself a relic now, or I’ll start feeling old.”

 

    “Not a relic. Just ready to move onto the next thing. Don’t know where they want me yet… I think I’d be happy working with cadets, passing on what I know-- rather have a post like that where I can at least keep active. But I’ll do what I can to win this fight wherever they decide they want me. I know my fight’s not over, whatever the decision they hand down may be.”

 

    “You are a good choice for command. We all started out reporting to brass, none of ‘em ever been in a Jaeger, some of ‘em can’t even pronounce it… No real pilots are in command of an entire Shatterdome. Barely anyone in any command position who’s been in a training pod, let alone the real thing. You know what it’s like, the PPDC needs that. I mean… you respect any of these blokes telling us what to do?”

 

    Stacker chuckles, letting them both into his room.

 

    “I’ve rolled my eyes hard enough I thought it might have caused permanent damage, yes.” He nods. “You think I’d be the right choice?”

 

    “Yeah. All joking aside-- yeah. People listen to you, Stack. And you’ve got a way makes a man want to please you.”

 

    Maybe he shouldn’t have said it-- he can feel the air grow warmer. He can see the change in the way Stacker looks at him, the consideration and the heat, the curve of his smile.

 

    “Do I, now? I haven’t heard that one before…”

 

    “Yeah, well. I just mean it’s a good quality in a CO.”

 

    “Hercules… of course I really do value your opinion on this. But… right at this moment, I might be a little more interested in your personal, non-professional opinions.”

 

Herc’s got a spot where he’s billeted, him and Scott, until they get sent back to Sydney. He thinks Scott might be out partying, and might not find his way to the bed he belongs in, anyway. Chuck’s safe and sound in Sydney with his emergency caregiver, and…

 

Chuck. Chuck would not understand Herc moving on. He would accept the old man being bi in a theoretical way, he thinks, he just wouldn’t accept his actually being with someone new after his mum’s death. There’d be no way to explain it to him.

 

Well… maybe it wasn’t something that needed to be explained. But Stacker understood all the things Herc needed him to understand. He knew loss and grief. He knew the life of a pilot. He knew what it was like to not know how to balance a child’s safety with ever getting to be in their lives, with finding childcare you could count on, and with always worrying you were getting it wrong. But he didn’t only know Herc’s struggles-- he knew Herc.

 

Besides which, he was handsome and charming, an amazing pilot, fun to be with…  There had been a pull, the first time they’d met. Back then, Herc hadn’t been remotely ready to think about feeling any kind of a pull. Chuck kept grief from dragging him under. He didn’t feel much good as a single father, but it was the first thing he could turn to, his duty to the kid, the love he felt for him. The second thing had been the thought of striking back, of getting in a Jaeger and taking his loss out on the monsters invading them.

 

Then he’d met Stacker, who just got it, and who got him. Sometimes he wishes they’d been partnered-- they could have been, and Scott could have stayed back with Chuck, made sure he’d have someone to take care of him if the worst happened… but he couldn’t make Scott’s decisions for him, and they were a good team-- and Stacker and Tamsin were a good team.

 

They were responsible for turning the tides together. He doesn’t know when the war is going to end for good, but right now, at least humanity is riding high, and it feels like things will only get sunnier. Humanity’s best has shown what they’re all capable of, and the more men like Stacker, men who’ve been in a Jaeger and fought the Kaiju hand-to-giant robot hand, could get into positions of command, could be listened to, the better things were going to get.

 

Herc doesn’t know when developing romantic feelings for Stacker had become something he was ready to do, or something there was no avoiding anyway. At first it just wasn’t something he could think about, and now… Now it feels as natural as breathing.

 

“I might have a lot of non-professional opinions.” He nods. “Starting with that smile. Yeah, that’s the one.”

 

Stacker laughs, ducks his head a moment, and when he meets Herc’s eyes again, his own are twinkling. “Oh, this smile? And what is your opinion on this smile?”

 

“Nine out of ten, without the laugh. Laugh puts it up to an eleven.” Herc struggles not to break out into a goofy grin just saying it, but he’s rewarded with another laugh.

 

“Eleven out of ten? I’ll take it.”

 

“Judge might be a bit biased.”

 

“I’ll take him, too.”

 

The smile is still there, the twinkle in his eyes. Both are much closer now. Herc hasn’t been kissed in what feels like a long time. He can’t imagine a better fit for the job.

 

When he was a young man, he’d described his first kiss with Angela as being like fireworks. He doesn’t know, looking back, if it was accurate, or just an attractive metaphor. It had been a good kiss, anyway-- it had been enough to make him think he wanted to do it again, as often as possible. Kissing Stacker isn’t like fireworks. It’s like a sunrise. Steady, with a building warmth… with a sense of comfort and familiarity. He doesn’t know if he’s outgrown fireworks or not. He doesn’t think he has-- he thinks Stacker could show him a few. But he likes the slow, gentle glow of a sunrise kiss as well.

 

The second kiss is much the same, but the warmth builds a little more, the sun burns a little hotter. They could share the bunk, if only just… they could figure things out.

 

He brushes the backs of his knuckles across Stacker’s cheek, and steals a third kiss, smiling. Maybe they have some good days behind them, but they’ve got more to come. Victories and good times, and opportunities to find themselves in the same ‘dome… The greatest things are ahead of them still. If he ever has cause to doubt that, he thinks all it will take to set him right is another sunrise, and Stacker.


End file.
